Rivers of the Night-Chapter 834: No Time for Peace

BANG.

The world of ice shook as Theron’s Primordial Earth descended.

He finally understood why it was that Kenton felt like a powerful Saint while his body was that of a Higher King. He was just like Theron. Kenton’s real cultivation was, indeed, at the Higher King level. His soul, however, had been considerably restrained.

Not only was his soul at the level of a Quasi Transcendent, but in his World of Ice it seemed to gain a powerful boost on top of that. In fact, it was so powerful that even when Theron’s Primordial Earth descended, the world shook but didn’t shatter.

Instead, the two formed a clashing anti-resonance with one another, trying to claim supremacy but failing.

Theron’s pupils constricted. This was the first time he had found a projection of the soul on the same level as the Primordial Earth.

He hurriedly crossed his short sword over his body, meeting the tip of Kenton’s sword.

Theron grunted and shot back. His wrist was on the verge of breaking, the amount of pressure it was under during the exchange threatening to snap it in two.

He forcefully twisted it, parrying it to the side. But Kenton’s sword was too fast and too powerful. It nicked his arm on the way out, taking an arc of blood with it that immediately froze.

The chill peeled its way into Theron’s body and he could feel layers of himself being turned to ice one step after another.

Theron took a breath and his exhale came out in condensed snowflakes.

But then a heat erupted from him, his expression becoming fierce.

He was wrong. He and Kenton were not the same.

Theron’s soul was more powerful than his cultivation in function, but after his hiatus from the world, his soul and cultivation were actually at the same level, having fused and caught up with one another. It was only because of his Primordial Earth that it was as powerful as the weakest of the Transcendents. Well, that and his Profound Truth—something only a Saint should have.

In actual raw cultivation, though, it was just Middle King Soul with power far above it.

Kenton’s soul, however, was truly at the Quasi Transcendent level. Not just in power, but in substance.

That meant one very important thing.

The weight of his Profound Truth was far heavier.

If Kenton was the usual Saint-level talent, Theron would have already been able to kill him. But what was clear by this point in Theron’s journey was that cultivation itself meant far less than one’s foundation, comprehension, and Resonance.

Jun had been a true Quasi Transcendent, but Theron had made short work of him. Though that was because Theron had come to understand his cultivation method inside and out, the truth was still the truth.

Kenton, however, was seemingly a higher-level talent than even Jun, and his methods were hard to decipher and understand.

This made him the worst sort of opponent for Theron. And yet, even right until this moment, Theron had no idea why it was Kenton was attacking him in the first place.

Suddenly, Theron couldn’t help but worry a small bit for Alpha. If Kenton was this ridiculous, the beast he chose to keep by his side wouldn’t be simple either.

Theron slid to a stop as the fountain of frozen blood attached to his arm shattered under the rapid temperature change.

He was separated by over a hundred meters from Kenton, but that distance might as well have been a half-step at their power level.

A radiant purple shone in Theron’s eyes and Kenton’s gaze became far more serious.

Theron’s fingers flickered and his dagger spun into a backhanded grip. He crossed his arms and water began to form tides around him.

At first, they were just small droplets, but then they grew to streams circling him, and then to raging rivers.

Theron stood in the middle, the world churning. The violence of the churning tides made one feel as though mountains of steel couldn’t have possibly stopped them. It could rip through everything in its path.

Kenton’s foot tapped the ground and he rapidly accelerated back, clearing kilometers at a time with every step. The wariness in his eyes was heavy. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

He had never met such a powerful Water Mancer. There was only one Water Mancy Clan of this caliber that he could think of, and much like most Water Mancers, their focus was control and defense. Not… this.

However, if it was going to be that easy, then he wouldn’t have started this battle in the first place.

The silky strands that extended from his blade’s hilt separated. And then, they formed long tails behind them.

They grew and rose into the skies until their swishing stirred up no less violence than Theron’s own raging waves.

From a distance… they looked no different from the nine tails of a white fox.

They both moved at once.

A clash of waves and silk filled the skies, their Mancers erupting in the middle of it all.

Theron’s blades danced to the raging chaos of his Water Mana. He tapped into his Resonance and his Profound Truth. Whether it was his sword or his dagger, they both seemed to follow the mysteries of the world.

To the naked eye, they looked no different from crashing waves, their droplets scattering against the harsh earth and pelting with an impossible-to-manage irregularity.

His weapons became chaos incarnate, sometimes tapping into the largest and most obvious Laws of Water, and then suddenly tapping into the most obscure and difficult to manage.

He changed with the waves and surged with tides, ebbed with moon and shrank with the sun’s set.

And yet he balanced it all with a raging, unbridled fury.

Even in his most peaceful times, even when he did nothing to offend anyone, even when all he wanted was to stroke the hair of the girl resting in his lap…

He couldn’t even do that.

And Kenton would pay dearly for that.

Theron roared.